Openable closure with drip site

ABSTRACT

An opening in the form of a slit in the resilient wall of a hollow conduit has a skeg-like protuberance associated with it which tends to collect liquid flowing from said slit and thereby confine its flow off said conduit from a single site.

United States Patent [191 McWhorter et a1.

[ 1 Aug. 27, 1974 OPENABLE CLOSURE WITH DRIP SITE [75] Inventors: DanielM. McWhor'ter, Arlington Heights; Frank K. Villari, Oak Park,

both of 111.

[73] Assignee: The Rendall Company, Walpole,

Mass.

[22] Filed: June 3, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 42,978

[52] US. Cl. 222/490 [51] Int. Cl B6501 5/74 [58] Field of Search222/108, 213, 420-422, 222/490, 556, 562, 428, 541; 251/4, 342;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MacDonald 222/490 UXSalvesen 222/490 X 2,316,516 4/1943 Hammerstein 222/490 2,520,684 8/1950Herzog 222/490 3,116,152 12/1963 Smith 222/541 X 3,174,694 3/1965Kitabayashi 251/342 X 3,325,059 6/1967 Hein 222/420 X FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 1,126,173 7/1956 France 222/420 82,991 9/1946 Norway 222/92Primary Examiner-Stanley H. Tollberg Assistant Examiner-Norman L. Stack,Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT An opening in the form of a slit in the resilient wall ofa hollow conduit has a skeg-like protuberance associated with it whichtends to collect liquid flowing from said slit and thereby confine itsflow off said conduit from a single site.

1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures 1 OPENABLE CLOSURE WITH DRIP SITE Thisinvention relates to a closure for an open end of a liquid conduit andmore particularly to a manually openable closure equipped to releasesmall quantities of a liquid from a specific site on the closure.

One of the most convenient forms of an openable closure for takingsamples from a liquid contained in a conduit is a resilient cap ofrubber or other elastic plastic which is slit so that the slit will openand discharge liquid when the closure is bent along the line of theslit. Such closures are useful adjuncts in manometers for measuringliquid pressure of various body fluids, e.g., spinal fluid, and in othermedical instruments where sampling is desirable. Such closures generallyare shown in an application for US. Pat. Ser. No. 653,548 filed by oneof us on July 14, 1967. An annoying drawback of such structures hashowever been that liquid discharged from such a slit tends to cling toand flow along the external surfaces of the closure, making it difficultto collect the sample and tending to waste the draw-off by generalwetting of the outside surface of the closure and of the fingers of theoperator.

It is an object of this invention to allow the more complete collectionof the liquid discharged through such a closure slit by reducing lossesarising from spreading over the surrounding external surfaces.

This objective is accomplished in accordance with this invention byplacing in the path of gravity flow of the liquid along the externalsurface after it has been discharged from the slit, a shaped drop-formerfrom which is released, in a free drop, a succession of droplets or astream constituted of the discharging liquid, thereby minimizinguncontrolled spread of the discharging liquid along other portions ofthe closure surfaces and random dripping.

With the drip site thus unvarying, collection in a vessel held below thedrip site is readily accomplished without messiness.

A closure typical of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the closure, partly broken away toshow internal structure, and showing at the left the open end of aconduit to which the closure is adapted to be connected;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the closure of FIG. 1, the device beingrotated 90 from its position as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the closure shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the parts shown in FIG. 1 assembledtogether with certain parts in vertical cross-section and indicating bydotted lines how a finger and thumb can bend the closure upwardly todischarge liquid from the conduit.

The closure shown in the drawings is made of a resilient material suchas rubber or plastic and comprises a portion 20 at the left of greaterdiameter, having a central bore 21, and connected by a conical surface22 to a portion 24 of smaller diameter having a smaller central bore 25communicating with bore 21. The right hand end of portion 24 closes thebore 25.

A slit 26 is formed preferably as a cross slit at the juncture of theconical surface 22 with the smaller portion 24 and the closure isprovided along its top edge with a reinforcing rib 30 which helps tokeep the parts normally in such a position as to compress the edges ofthe cross slit 26 together and prevent leakage.

The slit or valve 26 may be opened by lifting the closed end portion 24of the device, as indicated in FIG. 6, which separates the edges of slit26.

Along the bottom portion of the closure there is a downwardly pointingskeg-like protuberance 32 having a forward perpendicular surface 33 sothat as material is discharged, as best indicated in FIG. 5, through theslit it flows down the conical surface 22 and then downwardly on thefront surface 33 of the protuberance to its bottom point where drops areformed and are successively released for collection. The rear surfaces34 and 35 of protuberance 32 are angularly inclined and tapered to aline of juncture 36 to direct the liquid flow towards the bottom ofprotuberance 32 whenever surface 33 is too small to carry the entiredischarge flow.

As shown in the drawings, the top of the reinforcing rib 30 may bemarked LIF'T" as an indication to the operator as to how to open theclosure.

FIG. 1 shows a hollow conduit 40 to which the closure may be connectedby telescoping together portion 20 over a reduced portion 42 of theconduit, as shown in FIG. 6. Liquid in the conduit bore 44 may thus passinto bore 25 with access to slit 26 for flow therethrough when the valveis opened.

What is claimed is:

l. A hollow conduit for liquids comprising a hollow resilient tubehaving portions of different diameter connected by an interveningconical portion,

an openable slit in said conduit at the junction line between saidportion of less diameter and said conical portion, and

a protuberance on the portion of larger diameter adjacent said conicalportion forming a drip site, said protuberance having a forward surfaceextending across the path of liquid flowing from said slit, when openedby bending said conduit, along the outer surface of said conical portiontowards said portion of larger diameter and. collecting said flowingliquid and releasing it in the form of successive droplets at said dripsite.

3,831,823 August 27, 1974 Patent No. 7 Date Inventor s Daniel M.McWhorter and Frank K. Villari It is certified that error appears in theabove-identiied patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby correctedas shown below:

In 'the caption, the Assignee, "The Rendall Company" should be --TheKendall Company- Signed and sealed this 3rd day of Dember 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M. GIBSON JR. 0. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissipner ofPatents

1. A hollow conduit for liquids comprising a hollow resilient tubehaving portions of different diameter connected by an interveningconical portion, an openable slit in said conduit at the junction linebetween said portion of less diameter and said conical portion, and aprotuberance on the portion of larger diameter adjacent said conicalportion forming a drip site, said protuberance having a forward surfaceextending across the path of liquid flowing from said slit, when openedby bending said conduit, along the outer surface of said conical portiontowards said portion of larger diameter and collecting said flowingliquid and releasing it in the form of successive droplets at said dripsite.